Inside Health

Republicans Seek Inquiry On Fort Hood

By SCOTT SHANE and DAVID JOHNSTON

Published: November 18, 2009

Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday called for an immediate Congressional investigation of what they called systemic intelligence failures before the shootings at Fort Hood on Nov. 5, saying the Obama administration was trying to block a full inquiry.

Democrats, after a briefing on the case for Congressional leaders, replied that with the Army and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the early stages of a criminal investigation, it was too early for Congress to begin its own inquiry.

The committee's Republicans, led by Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, wrote to the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, saying there were indications of ''significant intelligence and intelligence sharing failures that must be reviewed and addressed immediately.''

But in an interview, the committee's Democratic chairman, Silvestre Reyes of Texas, called the Republican statements ''political grandstanding'' and said Congress should not get in the way of the investigation of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, the Army psychiatrist who is accused in the shootings.

Mr. Reyes said the committee would perform its oversight duties but would first wait for more facts to emerge.

''Before you rush off, you want to know what direction to go in,'' he said.

Officials have disclosed that Major Hasan sent about a dozen e-mail messages late last year and early this year to a radical Muslim cleric in Yemen, Anwar al-Awlaki.

American intelligence agencies intercepted the e-mail messages and a Defense Department analyst on a terrorism task force reviewed them last spring but decided not to seek a full investigation.

The texts of the messages have been provided to the Intelligence Committees in the House and Senate.

One Congressional official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tuesday that the messages ''were not overtly aggressive'' but ''should have raised flags.''

The Army and the F.B.I. are to report their findings to the White House, where the National Security Council is overseeing a broader inquiry into possible government missteps that is expected to conclude Nov. 30.